Darkness Overtaking
by ZhaneX
Summary: 12 years after the defeat of Nebula, the world is at peace. But at Lan and Mayl's wedding, a new Netnavi appears, and begins a campain against the world. At the same time, Bass and Zero have reappeared along with another new netnavi.-On Hiatus
1. Beginnings

Okay, so this is the first chapter of my new Megaman fanfic. The premise is mostly explained in the description. I came up with the idea for this fanfic when, in my usual way, I came up with my own character for a favourite series of mine. In this case it is the 'New Dark NetNavi' mentioned in the summary. He'll be partnered with and , who have returned more powerful than ever. And you may have noted that in the summary I said 'The three dark Navi's and their NetOps', well that'll have an important part to play later. Really, I'm making this up as I go past my made-up navi partnered with Zero and Bass. Originally I didn't plan to include Zero, but recently I've begun to become a real fan of Zeros, so I couldn't help but include him.

People walked along a busy street in DenTech City, going from place to place, living their lives in peace. After the defeat of Nebula, the world had settled back into a peaceful state that hadn't been seen since before the time of WWW. Lan Hikari and his friends had gone back to normal lives, and in the past 12 years, nothing had disturbed their peace, or the worlds. These were the reflections of a cloaked figure that looked down on busy street.

Lan was still mostly asleep, so he couldn't quite tell what this sound was. It was a beeping, he thought. But no, it had a distinct pattern, a voice. It was sounding continuously, waking Lan up more and more. He could almost make it out now.

"an...."

What was it? This was starting to grate on him...

"La.....an....L...n....LAN!"

At once the sound increased in volume, and Lan realized what it was as he was snapped from his drowsy state, falling off his bed, and onto the ground. Picking himself up, Lan looked over to a terminal next to his computer, and more importantly the screen of the device plugged into the terminal, upon which was a blue figure with a face quite like Lan's own.

"Megaman, why'd you wake me up?" Lan asked, rubbing his eye.

"Sorry Lan, but I figured that since your wedding was in about 12 hours, I thought you'd want to take care of, oh say, getting ready?!"

"Wait...it's today!?!"

"Do you forget everything in your sleep? I mean, you were saying 'I do' in your sleep, and yet you forget when you wake up?"

"Oh, just never mind...is everything taken care of?"

"Let's see, invites have been sent out, your lack of a honeymoon hasn't caused that many problems, luckily, the wedding venue has been set up, and everything's good to go...more or less..."

Lan sighed as he walked over to the bathroom to get ready for the day. Coming out of the bathroom a few minutes later, Lan looked through a dresser for some clothes. Getting dressed, he decided on wearing an outfit very similar to what he had always worn 12 years ago. If you looked at a picture of him when he was 12, you'd think his clothes had grown with him. He grabbed his PET off the terminal and stepped out onto his apartment's balcony. He had moved out of home a few years ago, and was now living on his own in an apartment. It was in the middle of the city, and his apartment was on the 20th floor, putting him pretty high above the streets. Lan looked out over the city. He absolutely loved the view, which was partly why he'd bought such a high up room. Breathing in the fresh air, Lan headed back into his room, closing the balcony door. He headed out of his room into the living room. His apartment was pretty big. Two bedrooms, one Lan used for himself and a guest room, both with a full washroom, a full kitchen and a living room. Lan walked over to the kitchen area, and opened the fridge to grab some breakfast. As Lan poured himself a bowl of cereal, a small red light lit up on the PET mounted on his shoulder, and a miniature hologram of Megaman was projected onto the kitchen table.

"So, what are we going to do about that?" asked Megaman.

"About what?" replied Lan.

"About that." Megaman said, pointing at a stack of boxes piled up in the living room.

These boxes were Mayl's various possessions, which she had sent to Lan's apartment. Since she'd be moving-in directly after the wedding, she decided it would be easier if her things were already there. Her various things now took up enough space in the living room to almost block off access to the living room balcony.

"I'm sure Mayl will unpack them as she sees fit when she gets here after the wedding." Lan replied.

"Well..." Megaman let out a sigh, "If you say so."

Lan finished his cereal, put his dishes in the sink, and headed out of the apartment, heading out to make the final arrangements for the big event today. His wedding to Mayl.

This was horrible. Just horrible.

"Oh, which one?!" yelled out a stressed out sounding voice.

"Does it really matter?" asked a bored, slightly childish voice.

"Oh course Yai! This is one of the most important decisions I can make today..."

"If it's that important, why not go with the pink one, it is your favourite color Mayl."

"That sounds like a good idea to me." Said a plain, shy voice.

"Do you really think so Shuuko? I mean, it seems to girly, this day isn't _all_ about me..." said Mayl.

"Are you kidding me!? Haven't you heard the saying 'The wedding's all about the bride'?" yelled Yai.

"Well, I guess you've got a point, hehe." Mayl giggled.

Mayl was getting ready for her wedding, by selecting what kind of dishware would be used at the wedding later. The main problem was that Mayl was being a typical busy bride, and couldn't seem to make a decision, so Shuuko and Yai were trying to help her decide. They were in a back room of the chapel were the wedding was being hosted. Over in a corner was Mayl's dress. It was a shining white, and even in the small amount of light in the room, it seemed to glitter. The dress had a few frills near the bottom, but the dress was mostly straight, and designed very elegantly. Yai had been the one who had designed it, using the resources at the disposal of her families company to make it, giving it the most elegant features possible. She had then given it to Mayl free, as a sort of early wedding gift. Either way though, Yai had the largest present at the gift table.

"If you think that I should go with it, then I will, let's go set out the pink ones!" decided Mayl.

"Ah, no need Mayl." Said Yai, grabbing out a walky-talky, "She decided on the pink guys."

"What was that about?" asked Shuuko.

"Oh, I brought in a few guys to help with the final set-up." Replied Yai.

"Thanks Yai, now there's just one last thing to worry about!" said Mayl gleefully.

Lan scratched his head as he continued his experiments on human-navi interactions at SciLab. He had been working at SciLab ever since he had finished college. He had recently begun thinking about the bond between himself and Megaman, and how it may benefit mankind if such relationships were more common. Currently he was looking more into the Reverse-Syncro Technology developed by Mr. Wily years ago. So far, Lan hadn't made any new breakthroughs with the technology of sending a human into the net.

"Man, who knew it would be so tough to send a physical human into the net..." Lan sighed.

"What's the matter, having trouble with your experiment?" asked a voice behind Lan.

Turning around, Lan saw Dex, Chaud, and Tori walking into his lab. Lan sat up and walked over to greet them.

"Hey guys, what are you all doing here?"

"Well, we thought we should come grab you since your wedding's in two hours." Replied Tori.

"Yeah, and if you're marrying Mayl, you should at least not be late for the ceremony!" yelled Dex.

"What?! You're kidding me, right? No way have I been working for that long."

A light glowed on Lan's PET, and Megaman projected himself as a hologram on a table.

"Actually Lan, you have been working on the Reverse-Syncro Technology for nearly ten hours." Said Megaman.

"Man, I've become a real hard worker huh?" replied Lan with a sigh.

"More or less, I still have to scream you awake almost every morning."

Dex and Tori started laughing at Megaman's joke, and even Chaud put on an amused smile.

"Well, we should get going, don't want Lan to be late." Said Chaud.

"Yeah, let's get going." Said Lan.

"Oh, by the way, did you get the suits Lan?" asked Tori.

"Suits?" asked Lan in return.

"Wait, you didn't get our suits?!" yelled Dex, upset.

"I don't got a clue what you're talking about." Said Lan.

"Oh, didn't I tell you, you were supposed to pick up everyone's suits." Said Megaman.

"What?!" yelped Lan in surprise.

"Don't worry, we can pick them up on the way." Said Chaud.

"Yeah...great..." said Lan, quite relieved as they left SciLab.

A lone figure in a black torn cloak sat over the balcony of a penthouse apartment high above the bustling streets of DenTech City.

"Don't you think that's just a little bit dangerous?"

The cloaked figure turned around to see another man in a similar cloak stepping out onto the balcony.

"Nah, I don't think I'm gonna fall, unless someone were to push me off..."

"Heh, what are you looking at me for? I wouldn't do that."

"Yeah, I know, just thought I'd fool around with you a little."

"Whatever...hey, what's going on down there?" said the second cloaked figure, pointing down towards a well lit chapel far down below about a block away. Numerous cars were parked there, and people were still arriving and flooding into the chapel.

"Huh? Oh yeah, the famous scientist Lan Hikari is apparently marrying his childhood sweetheart. Considering how important the guy is, it's no surprise that he has alot of friends coming...Hey, do you have any idea where ***** is?"

"Huh? No, I haven't seen him in the last few hours."

"Really...whatever...Say, what do you think of the world, right now?"

The second cloaked man turned to the one sitting over the balcony.

"...I don't know..."

Okay! That's Chapter 1! Please, write a review...really, I trive on reviews! Review!  
Ha, sorry, but I really like reviews, I tend to stop writing if people don't review. Anyway, next chapter should come sometime soon. Again, please review!


	2. Is This Darkness?

Okay, here's chapter 2 of my new Megaman Fanfic, Darkness Overtaking. I've only gotten a couple of reviews so far, but still, that's enough for me! Anyway, here's chapter 2:

_Is this...Darkness?_

Lan had done it. He was finally here. He was sure Mayl was more excited than he was though. He had only fully realized how much she loved him in the last couple of years, and figured out how much he loved her. Looking back, he felt like an idiot. He had also heard about how at these times of his obliviousness to Mayl's feelings, the girls would call him 'Dumb as a sack of Hammers Hikari'. Not the most flattering thing he had ever heard. Still, none of that mattered now. Now he was standing in a chapel, at the end of the aisle, up on the pedestal, wearing a suit, with his best friends standing behind him. Looking down the aisle, at all the various rows, he saw all of his family and his friends from all the years battling net terrorists like WWW, Grave and Nebula. Now though, there was peace, and all his friends from those troubled times were here to help him and Mayl celebrate.

"Hey, Lan...look."

Lan shifted his head back as Chaud whispered to him, snapping him out of his reflections on how he had come to this moment. Looking back down the aisle, Lan saw the large doors at the front of the chapel open. And then he saw her. Mayl looked...radiant in her dress. It had few frills, except near the bottom for trimming, and the straight, thin texture of the dress outlined Mayl perfectly. A vale was softly draped over her head, but her red hair showed through, but was still tinted by the white vale, making her hair look pink. Had Mayl been able to see it, Lan was certain she would have loved it; pink was her favourite color after all.

Inside the chapel's inner network, all of the netnavis of the various guests to the wedding were gathered in a similar pattern to the guests in the chapel. The reason was that in addition to Lan marrying Mayl, the happy couple had thought it would be a fun idea for Megaman to marry Roll. Roll had been ecstatic. Megaman had gone dumb for 3 days.

As Mayl walked down the aisle, Lan was overcome with happiness. He was actually struggling not to cry. As Mayl reached the pedestal, Lan turned to face her. The minister read out of his book, though Lan really didn't hear any of it; he was too busy admiring Mayl. The only words he heard were at the end.

"Do you, Lan Hikari, take Mayl Sakurai to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

"I do." Said Lan. Tears were starting to leak from his eyes.

"And do you, Mayl Sakurai, take Lan Hikari to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do." Said Mayl. Lan thought he could see tears coming from her eyes as well.

Lan took out the wedding band, and slipped it onto Mayl's finger.

"You may kiss the bride." Spoke the minister.

Lan leaned in towards Mayl, and she moved towards him. They kissed, and everyone in the chapel cheered. The same thing happened with Megaman and Roll in the network of the chapel, and the netnavis also cheered. Everyone in both the real world and net world of the chapel was overcome with happiness. It lasted about...4 seconds.

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"Gah, what the hell is this?!"

The cloaked man who had been sitting over the balcony of their group's penthouse was caught off guard as an earthquake suddenly hit. He slipped off and probably would have fallen to his death had someone on the roof suddenly jumped off and grabbed his foot, his body length allowing the other cloaked man on the balcony to grab them both.

"Heh...so you were on the roof eh?"

"Yeah...there's a great view of the stars from there." Said the man who had been on the roof, oddly calm despite now dangling over 20 stories above the ground, holding onto the collar of the other cloaked man who had been sitting on the balcony. The man who had been on the roof also wore a black cloak like the other two.

"Umm...I don't mean to be a bother, but do you think you could pull us up now?" said the man who had fallen from the balcony, now being held by his collar by the man who had been on the roof.

"Oh...yeah, right."

The man on the balcony then pulled on the leg of the man who had been on the roof, eventually pulling both men back onto the balcony, though it left him panting.

"Heh...ah...phew...what was that?" asked the man who had just pulled the other two back onto the balcony.

"I have no idea...I'm just glad to be back on a solid surface...having my legs dangling out over nothin' like that...man..."

"It's begun."

The other two turned to the man who had been on the roof, both looking surprised.

"You don't mean..."

"Isn't it too soon?"

"No...it's started...Let's go."

The man who had come from the roof, apparently the leader of the group, picked himself up from the floor and walked back into the penthouse, quickly followed by the other two men.

The inside of the penthouse was a technological wonder. The apartment would seem normal at first glance or entry, however the backroom which led out to the balcony was something different. There were computers lined against every wall, and various machines scattered through the roof. One wall was covered in processors and complex computer systems. The opposite wall had three different PCs. Each one of the three men walked up to one.

"Alright, jack-in." Said the leader.

Each one of the men reached into their cloaks and pulled out a PET. The Leaders was black with gray and red trimmings. It's symbol looked with two katanas crossed. The second man, who had previously been dangling over the balcony, pulled out a gray PET with purple and gold trims. It's symbol appeared to be a musical note. The third man, who had saved both of his friends earlier, pulled out a red PET with white and blue trims. It's symbol appeared to be a glowing blue sword surrounded by lines of gold. The men then pointed towards their respective computers, and called.

"Jack-In!"

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Lan and Mayl pulled away from each other as the quake started. Some of the people in the chapel were crying things like, 'What's going on?!' and 'Ah, a quake!'. However, they all looked up as a technological glow came from the chapel's pipe organ, and a hologram emerged. The figure that was projecting himself appeared to be a netnavi of some kind, but Lan had never seen anything like it. The navi had slicked back blue hair, which was spiked up in the back. It's body was a pale grey, and it's face seemed almost like a mask, which sort of reminded Lan of Zero. The navi's armor was black with some red lines along them. There was a red cape draped along it's shoulders. But the thing that Lan noticed most was its eyes. They were black as night, but there was this burning red tint to them. They seemed to just burn through to the soul. And then it spoke.

"Hear me humans and netnavis! I am Omega, Lord of Darkness! I am here to tell you that from this day on, I am the master of this world!"

"Yeah right!"

Lan could hear Megaman cry out, but Omega didn't seem to react at all.

"From now on, you obey me."

"Oh yeah, now that's a laugh."

After that, the hologram cut out. Lan looked up in question.

_That voice..._Lan thought, _it can't be..._

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Megaman had just kissed Roll as Lan had kissed Mayl when the net itself began to shake. Then, right near where he, Roll, Gutsman, Protoman, Iceman, Glide and Spoutman had been standing, a portal of what seemed to be darkness appeared. Then, the netnavi known as Omega appeared.

"Hey, this is a private party! Get out!" yelled Gutsman.

"Wait, no Gutsman!" Protoman yelled out in warning, but it was too late.

Omega simply raised his arm and spread his hand, and a wave of shear darkness seemed to rush over Gutsman, blasting him back into the digital aisle as various Netnavis jumped out of the way. As the dust settled, Gutsman was heavily damaged, but still alive. His left arm had been blown off, along with half his jaw and lower chest.

"Heh, resilient to have survived that...but no matter."

Omega spread his arms, and then began to float into the air. When he reached a certain height, a vidwindow appeared, and Megaman could see the chapel on the other side. This new navi was broadcasting a hologram of himself into the chapel. Megaman then listened to the speech that Omega delivered, before raising his arm up, now transformed into the megabuster.

"Yeah right!" Megaman yelled as he fired a shot off.

But the attack seemed to just bounce right off of Omega's armor. Omega just glanced down for a brief moment, and pointed a finger at Megaman, a thing beam of dark purple energy then fired out from the finger, and blew through Megaman's left shoulder. A moment later, Megaman's entire left arm blew apart.

"Megaman!" cried out Roll, who quickly rushed to his side.

"Damn it...I haven't fe-felt anything like that since I was deleted by Pharohman..."

Omega then finished off his speech, before a voice rang off in the distance.

"Oh yeah, now that's a laugh! Hell's Rolling!"

Almost every navi in the net chapel looked over at the direction the familiar voice, and more familiar attack, had come from. Omega just turned in time to see two dark purple rings of energy hit him dead center of his chest, knocking him down to the ground. A new dark portal, much like the one Omega had entered from, appeared, and an odd-looking navi walked out of it. He wore a torn up brown cloak, and you could see a black body with dark purple lines underneath it at parts. The navi's head was mostly covered by a black helmet, with two large yellow fins jutting out of either side. The navi's hands glowed with a dark purple energy. Megaman looked up and saw him.

"Ba-Bass?!"

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Okay, that's the end of chapter 2! I hope everybody likes it! Again, please review and share your opinions! Opinions are always helpful!


	3. Returns

Okay, here's chapter 3! Regarding the last chapter, I thought I made the villain seem a little too...typical, too much of a stereo-typical 'I'm-going-to-take-over-the-world' villain. Anyway, here's chapter 3:

_**Returns**_

"Bass-?"

Megaman looked over at the dark netnavi that had just appeared out of nowhere and suddenly toppled an enemy that Megaman hadn't even been able to scratch. Bass just looked over at Megaman.

"Feh, I've always said it Megaman, you're weak."

Bass then looked away and began to move towards Omega, who was picking himself up off the ground.

"Heh, who would have thought there was a netnavi who could actually knock me down..."

"Well, I ain't nearly done with you yet. Heh, so you're gonna take over the world huh? I've seen better navi's make such claims."

"Oh, like who?"

"At one time, me!"

Bass then charged at Omega, forming the dark energy in his hands into swords. Bass then jumped up and brought the swords swinging downwards. Omega raised up his arm and blocked the attack.

"Heh, you believe yourself to be superior to me? Worthless. Your attack simply caught me off guard. It won't happen again, fool."

Omega then swung his arm back, knocking Bass through the air. Before Bass had a chance to land though, Omega swung his arm back into place, and pointed his open palm at Bass. A wavelength of dark energy then erupted from his hand and knocked against Bass, blasting him into a wall.

"See, not quite so strong." Omega said before turning back to Megaman and Roll, "I believe I have made my intentions clear, so now I will take my leave of this place."

Omega sung his arm across his chest and took a short bow as a portal of darkness appeared behind him.

"But allow me to leave a token of my introduction."

Omega then snapped his fingers and several groups of powerful kinds of viruses appeared. Omega then turned around and walked through the portal, which quickly closed behind him, leaving Megaman and all his friends to face the powerful viruses he had left behind. Megaman looked on as the viruses closed in. Glide and Iceman then stepped in front of Megaman and Roll.

"Leave this to us." Said Glide.

"Yeah, we can handle these guys." Added Iceman.

"Not a problem." Stated Protoman.

Glide then raised up his arm and turned it into a cannon form, firing and destroying several viruses. Iceman held up his hand to aim and took a deep breath, releasing it as a freezing wind which quickly froze and deleted several more viruses. However, for each one they deleted, several more popped up. Protoman quickly jumped up and sliced through more viruses, but they were also replaced by more.

"Uh, this is impossible." Said Glide worriedly.

"Let us help!"

Glide, Protoman and Iceman looked over to see three Netnavis who had been in the crowd run forward. One had a large red and blue and black body, with large saws over his shoulders. Another hand a red and white body with flames coming out from his head and arms. The third had a white body that looked like an insulation suit with blue and orange trimmings.

"Metalman, Torchman, Thunderman! Great, we could use some help!" yelled out Iceman, happy at the back up.

"No problem." Said Metalman.

"Yeah, happy to help." Said Thunderman.

"I just felt like a fight right now!" yelled Torchman before charging at the viruses, raising his arms and firing twin streams of fire at them.

However, even as a large group of viruses burned to ash and were deleted, more popped up. Metalman used his saws and fists to tear through even more, but they were again replaced with more. Thunderman blew another group of viruses apart with lightning bolts, but once more, another larger group replaced them.

"This is useless! Whenever we delete them, twice as many pop up in their place!" yelled out Glide, somewhat stating the obvious.

"So, we just have to take care of them all at once!" yelled Torchman, quickly deleting another large group with his flamethrowers.

"No, Glide's right, this is useless, maybe we should just jack-out!" suggested Iceman.

"No way! I ain't runnin' from a fight! Besides, if we just leave there's no telling what kind of damage these viruses could cause to the chapel if we just let them have free reign." Countered Metalman.

"Well then what do you suggest we do about this?" questioned Thunderman.

"I-I don't know!" yelled Metalman in frustration.

As Glide, Protoman, Iceman, Metalman, Thunderman and Torchman fought off the viruses however, the viruses began to spread out, and continually increase in number. Eventually, the entire group of gathered Netnavis were surrounded. Even though almost every navi there was incredibly powerful, they were beginning to be overwhelmed by the sheer number of enemies. After a moment though, a small group made it through the Navi's who had gathered around the injured Megaman as a point of defense. They were quickly dispatched by Roll, who was still holding onto Megaman. Another group of viruses made it through right after the last, and one managed to knock Roll to the ground from behind. More viruses then began to flood over Megaman and Roll, with almost every other navi too busy fighting the ever growing hordes to help. Just as Roll and Megaman were covered by viruses though, a new voice cried out over the fighting.

"Z-Saber, SLASH!"

Through the viruses, Megaman could see a brief flash of red, with a slight trail of blue, go by him. And then, every virus that had been covering Megaman and Roll was quickly deleted. Megaman looked around to see if the one who had saved him. All he could see though was everyone else still fighting, and Roll picking herself up and looking around too. She then took notice of Megaman and quickly rushed back over to his side, embracing him out of worry.

"Mega! Are you okay?!"

"Yeah...for now...but with all these viruses, I don't know how long we can hold out..."

"If we continue to fight, I'm sure that a resolution to this problem will reveal itself." Spoke a mysterious voice, the same one Megaman had heard a short moment ago, shortly before all the viruses had been deleted.

Looking up over Roll's shoulder, Megaman saw a lone figure standing in front of them. At first, Megaman thought it might be Bass, as this figure was also wearing a worn cloak. However, upon a moment's inspection, this new navi was quite different. His cloak was much shorter, and didn't wrap around his body like Bass's, it was really more of a cape of sorts. The new figure had a black body with red armor, and large pointed shoulder plates. The navi's most notable feature however was a red helmet, which had a rather spiky design, and a large blue gem of some kind covering the entire top of the helmet. On top of that, he had a long ponytail of blond hair coming down across his back, similar to Protoman. Also similar to Protoman, the navi wielded a bright blue sword. The figure then twisted around and faced Megaman. He had a face somewhat similar to Megaman's, but more gruff and serious. Megaman was certain he had seen him somewhere before, but his appearance was almost totally unknown to Megaman. Then it clicked. The navi was smaller, and more humanoid than he remembered, but only one being had ever looked like that as far as Megaman could remember.

"Is that...you Zero?"

At Megaman's words, Roll pulled away slightly and turned around, then noticing Zero as well. Zero just put on a slight grin.

"Heh, good to see you Megaman, it's been awhile. But we'll have to catch up later, for now, I think I'll help with these viruses."

"But you were-"

"Heh, it doesn't really matter does it? I'm pretty sure I just saved you and Roll's lives. Anyway, I think me and my new ally will just get to helping with these viruses. In fact, he got here before me, and should be back to 'helping' in a moment."

"Wait-you don't mean?"

"DARKNESS OVERLOAD!"

"Speak of the devil."

A large explosion of dark energy suddenly appeared, utterly destroying a large group of viruses. Still though, they were soon replaced by more.

"They never end, do they?"

Bass suddenly appeared next to Zero, looking out over the battlefield.

"No, they don't do they?" pondered Zero.

"Maybe we should just destroy the whole area." Suggested Bass.

"Now now, we don't want to destroy the wedding guests now do we?"

"Whatever, not like I care, all that matters is stopping these viruses _he _summoned."

"Still, I'd rather not kill old friends. Oh, speaking of which, where's Gutsman? I'd imagine he's right in the middle of the battle." Zero asked.

"Ah, Gutsman! Is he okay?" Megaman yelled out worriedly.

"Don't worry. A bunch of the guests have gathered around him, and I think I can see Medi looking after him." Said Roll to ease Megaman's worries.

"Look after him? Why, what happened-" Zero looked around and saw another bunch of netnavis gathered around in a defensive circle, much like the group surrounding Megaman and Roll. Looking at the center of it, Zero saw how badly he had been damaged.

Zero's grip on his sword tightened, and his face darkened at the sight of his old friend's state.

"I see...tell me, was Omega the one who did that?" asked Zero.

"Yeah...yeah it was." Responded Megaman.

"I see..." Zero turned around and started walking towards the fighting against the viruses.

Raising his sword, Zero took a single stroke through the air, and a wave seemed to travel through the air, hitting a large number of viruses. A moment later, almost every virus that had been near the fighting was deleted.

"So...this Gutsman...he was a friend of Zero's?" asked Bass.

"Ye-yeah he was...a long time ago, when Zero first began thinking for himself and was wandering the net, Gutsman came across him, and they became friends. Gutsman was Zero's first friend. I guess you can't understand a sentiment like that." Megaman explained.

"Yeah...I guess I can't." Responded Bass, sounding just slightly downtrodden.

Bass then walked away from Megaman and Roll, who just looked on, slightly confused by Bass' reaction. Raising his arms, dark energy formed around Bass, and then formed into two large circles.

"Hells Rolling." Bass said calmly.

Throwing the two large circles, Bass joined the fighting, cutting a swathe through the hordes of viruses, eventually joining Zero.

"So, you got any idea how we're gonna stop these things without destroying everything here?" asked Bass.

"Yeah...I actually think I figured something out." Stated Zero.

"Great, then let's do it!"

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Okay, that's chapter three! Okay, I really wants some opinions on how I portrayed Zero and Bass, since I want to know how people feel about how I write, especially how I write pre-established characters. Also, I know this chapter doesn't have anything in the real world, but I wanted this chapter (And the next one) to focus on the combat in the net. Also, I want to know how people feel about 'The Endless Hordes of Viruses'. And BTW, just to say, Zero has figured out a way to defeat them which doesn't make it seem like Zero and Bass are totally and utterly invincible, stronger and overall way more powerful than anyone else. I mean, if I made them better than everyone else, it wouldn't be a good story, right? Anyway, I am planning on writing these chapters daily (Technically nightly, since I'm usually writing these chapters at the middle of the night.) anyway, please review!


	4. Old Fire, New Darkness

Alright, here's the latest chapter of Darkness Overtaking! I know I said I'd be writing chapters daily (As I said last time, nightly technically) but then the next day I started getting an overload of schoolwork and didn't have any time to write up another chapter. But now, here it is chapter 4! Enjoy!

_**Old Fire, New Darkness**_

Bass and Zero charged into the hordes upon hordes of viruses, quickly getting right into the thick of them. Every few moments, a large hole would open up in the seemingly endless viruses and Zero and Bass could be seen, but these holes would quickly be filled by more viruses. Within the ever swarming viruses, Bass and Zero were fighting at their best.

"So, what was this idea of yours?" asked Bass, not taking his focus of the viruses.

"Viruses aren't this organized. They normally don't have the intelligence to swarm like this. It's a simplistic plan, swarm unendingly, filling in any places destroyed in the swarm. But despite being so simple, it's too complex for viruses, they're not capable of swarming like this, not in these numbers. Not without control."

"In other words what you're saying is that there's something, or someone, keeping these things in check, and making sure they keep this up."

"Exactly."

"So the question is, who is controlling these viruses."

"Yeah. But I think I figured that out too."

"Really? How?"

"Simple. Haven't you noticed that it's kinda hot in here?"

"Meh, I figured that was just because to Torchman."

"Yeah, but thing is that Torchman is over, THERE!"

Zero suddenly slashed through a cloud of viruses, revealing Torchman using his flamethrowers to vaporize a large number of viruses.

"Meanwhile, the heat I'm feeling... is coming from behind us!"

Zero jumped up and twisted around 180 degrees and leaped forward as soon as his foot touched the ground, going into a flurry of slashes with his sword, carving a swathe through the viruses. Bass quickly followed suit. After a moment, Zero cut through a large group of viruses, emerging in a clear area quickly followed by Bass. Looking around, Zero found what he was looking for. In the clearing of viruses was a rather surprised looking navi. He had a body somewhat similar to Torchman, but black and reddish-orange in color, with a larger chest and a more humanoid face, which had a large helmet on it with what looked like flame outlets coming out of it.

"Wha-who are you guys, how did you get to me?!" yelled the surprised navi in shock at being discovered.

"So, you are the one who is controlling these viruses then." Spoke Zero calmly.

"Yeah, so what if I am? My master Omega tasked me with ensuring his viral hordes never stopped attacking Megaman and his stupid friends!"

"Really? Well it seems like you've got a problem on your hands." Said Bass, getting something of an evil smile on his face.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" asked the navi controlling the viruses.

"You see, we are out to defeat Omega, and I'd rather not see Megaman and his friends and family be deleted, I rather like to think of them as friends."

"Ha! In that case, I'll just delete all of you! Now, get ready to face the wrath of Omega Burnerman!"

Burnerman twisted his arms backwards, and twin burning blue flames appeared out of the outlets that acted as his arms. A series of similar flames appeared out of the outlets on his back, and the ones on the back of his helmet. At the same time, a large flame erupted from the symbol on his head.

"Now die!"

Burnerman jumped slightly, releasing his grip on the ground, and allowing his various rockets to blast him through the air, headed straight for Bass and Zero, the flame coming from his head poised like a spear. But before he struck a voice rang through the air.

"I thought that you got deleted a long time ago, boy!"

Torchman suddenly burst through the viruses using one of his own flamethrowers as a rocket. Making a quick landing, Torchman aimed both is flamethrowers at Burnerman, firing them directly at the other fire navi. Burnerman quickly pointed his arms forward, using them to stop his motion, then immediately reverse and evade Torchman's flames. Burnerman then landed and looked up at Torchman with a look of pure hatred.

"You-you damn old man! What are you doing here!?"

"I was a wedding guest."

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Lan looked around at the nearly rabid chapel. He had barely been married to Mayl for 4 seconds, and already something like this had happened!

_Why, why did this have to happen!_ Lan yelled out in his head.

Looking around, Lan glanced down at Mayl, who was looking out over the chapel with a look that seemed like a combination of fear and shock. Omega had just made his declaration of war a moment ago, and now all hell had broken loose. Then somebody got around to thinking about something else.

"Wait, what about the navis?! They're still in there with that guy!"

This note of care for the navis brought about a rush of concern. People began scrambling about their pockets, trying to grab their PETs and check on their navis. However, a sudden snap sounded through the chapel, and every PET stopped functioning and turned off.

"Now now, I'm sure all your navis will be able to handle themselves without any help from you."

Almost every head in the chapel turned towards the entrance where the voice had come from. The man who had somehow turned off every PET around looked about Lan's age. He had slick black hair and cunning eyes. He had a few piercings and wore black clothes. Lan felt like he had seen him before, and then it hit him.

"Wait a minute, you're Atsuki Homura!"

"Heh, glad you remember me Lan."

"Atsuki Homura, tha' littl' punk?! What're you doin' 'ere?"

A man with medium length burning red hair and a beard stood up from the crowd. He had a dark red hoodie on with flame symbols on the shoulders, and black leather pants with a flame pattern along the bottom reaching up to the knees.

"Well, well, well, Mr. Match, my old 'friend'. How's it goin' ya old burnt out flame?" Atsuki said mockingly.

"Burnt out? Why ya littl' punk, I'll show ya 'burnt out'!" yelled Mr. Match in outrage.

Mr. Match ran forward in an attempt to land a solid punch to the square of Atsuki's jaw. However, as Mr. Match got close, he slammed up against what seemed like an invisible barrier, before falling back down on his ass.

"Gah, what is this?"

"Like it? One of the abilities granted to me by Lord Omega."

"Wait, you mean you work for Omega?" asked Lan in surprise.

"Indeed. Lord Omega did me a great service, he brought back Burnerman. Now I and Burnerman serve him."

"Like I care, I beat you once, I can do it again!" yelled Mr. Match, jumping up and beginning to pound on the barrier around Atsuki.

"Heh, it's useless, the power of Lord Omega is absolute. You'll never break through this barrier."

"I beg to differ!"

Out of the crowd of guests a somewhat older looking man with spiked yellow hair. He wore a bland, dark mustard yellow suit, with accents of neon yellow spots. He also had a set of headphones also had a pair of headphones on with neon on them.

"Wha' is it Zap, can't you see I'm trying ta beat this guy to a pulp?" addressed Mr. Match, before going back and kicking on Atsuki's shield while he just laughed.

"Ha, give up ya old men, it's useless! You'll never break this shield."

"Again, I beg to differ." Said Count Zap.

"Oh would you stop wi'h tha', what are you trying to say Zap?" yelled Mr. Match, getting frustrated at the lack of effect he was having on Atsuki's shield.

"Simple, as you know I'm an expert on all things electrical. This shield of yours can't possibly be a solid construction, correct?"

"Yeah, so what? Using my PET, which Lord Omega fixed to be able to manipulate energy from the net."

"I see. Well that's just great, since net energy is primarily electrical in nature. And guess what that means I can do?"

Count Zap reaching into the pack of his suit jacket, and pulled out a pair of what looked like glowing balls on small sticks.

"What are those?" asked Atsuki still sounding mocking somewhat.

"Oh nothing, just my favourite electric conductors." Said Count Zap with a smile before ramming the glowing balls into Atsuki's shield, causing a large amount of electricity to spark around.

A moment later, Atsuki's shield shattered.

"Wha-what the hell did you do?!" yelled Atsuki a moment before Mr. Match grabbed him by his collar and lifted him up.

"Heh, simple, I overloaded your shield." Explained Count Zap.

"You-you bastard..." Atsuki said a second before Mr. Match slugged him, sending him careening down to the floor.

"Heh, and now tha' your littl' shield is gone. You're gonna turn our PETs back on, or else!"

"Please, like I'm afraid of an old man like you." Said Atsuki proudly.

"Really? Well, I can correct that."

Mr. Match walked over and lifted Atsuki up again by his collar, before throwing him up slightly and delivering an uppercut before his feet had the chance to touch the ground again. Mr. Match then punched Atsuki in his face, sending him head first onto the floor again.

"Y'know, I really don't like you...ya stupid old man..." said Atsuki.

"Yeah, well unless you wan' more, I suggest you turn our PETs back on. Now."

"Heh, I already said that I'm not afraid of you."

Mr. Match reached down and picked Atsuki up again, bringing him up to eye level.

"I said, NOW." Said Mr. Match, an oddly cold and menacing look in his eye, which seemed to send a shock through Atsuki.

"...ah...eh....fi-fine...stupid old man..."

Atsuki snapped his fingers, and all the PETs in the chapel turned back on. A moment later, Mr. Match gave Atsuki a head butt, knocking him unconscious.

"Thanks punk, now have a nice nap." Said Mr. Match in victory. The victory over Atsuki was short lived however.

"Gutsman!" yelled Dex over everyone else in the chapel.

Lan quickly ran over and looked at what his friend was seeing. Though it was tough, he was able to see a very damaged Gutsman surrounded by a few other navis, fighting off a number of viruses Lan had never even thought of comprehending before. Looking around, Lan saw everyone else looking at the holographic screens in confusing, thinking that they must be seeing things. That's when Lan got an idea of how to get the big picture.

"Everyone, set your PETs to connection mode, then broadcast image mode, that should allow us to combine the images from each of our navis into one giant screen. Do it now!"

At Lan's behest, everyone in the chapel entered the commands into their PETs, and as Lan had thought, it created a giant holographic screen above their heads. That's when they were able to see everything that was going on. The hordes of viruses, the serious injuries to Megaman and Gutsman, and possibly the two navis doing the best against the viruses.

"Is that...Bass and Zero?!" asked Lan out loud.

"Hey, where are they going?"

Everyone looked as Zero followed by Bass suddenly jumped through the viruses, moving away from everyone else through the viruses.

"Wait, didn't tha' punk say that Burnerman was revived? Torchman, follow those two, now! It's Burnerman!"

On the screen, Torchman turned around in surprise at the sudden appearance of his netop, who had been absent up to this point. But upon hearing Burnerman's name, Torchman nodded and ran off through the viruses after Bass and Zero.

"Here's somethin' to help ya! Fire Sword, Battlechip, Download!"

Mr. Match placed the battlechip into his PET just as Torchman reached Bass and Zero, and saw Burnerman charging them.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Fire Sword that Mr. Match had downloaded to Torchman appeared on his arm. Torchman quickly ran towards Burnerman and jumped up, raising his sword up into the air and bringing it down towards Burnerman. Burnerman countered by generating his own Fire Sword from his arm and blocking the strike, before swinging his arm sending Torchman backwards.

"Heh, you think you can beat me old man?"

"I'd say I have a pretty good chance."

"And don't forget about us!"

Bass came up to Burnerman's left, a sphere of dark energy in his hand which formed into a sword aiming to take of his left arm. To the right Zero appeared, his sheer speed catching Burnerman by surprise. Zero brought up his sword, swinging down to slash through Burnerman's right arm. Torchman then charged from straight ahead, aiming to stab through Burnerman. However, Burnerman raised his arms and used the flames from his arms to propel himself backwards, leaving the three allies to clash swords before quickly dispersing after having missed their intended target.

"Heh, you think that the three of you make any difference? I can beat you old man, anytime, anywhere. And you two? You think your being here makes a difference? I can take the old man and you two at the same time! Bring it!" declared Burnerman proudly. However, both Zero and Bass simply smiled.

"There's just this one thing though." Said Zero.

"Oh, and what's that?" asked Burnerman, still sounding plenty confident.

"Who said that it was just the two of us who came here?" said Bass.

Burnerman's face betrayed his earlier confidence as he showed brief shock at this new declaration, before turn around when he just barely noticed a shadow behind him. Before he had a chance to react, the new figure kicked him in the back, sending him flailing through the air a few meters before he landed rolling along the floor. And then, the black figure, who appeared to be wearing black medieval armor, spoke.

"You let your guard down."

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Alright, there's chapter 4. Please review, I thrive on reviews. In fact, upon reflection, the reason I was able to finish chapter 1, then have 2 and 3 done within the next 2 days was probably because I received positive reviews very quickly after posting, but I didn't get reviews since then, which is probably why this chapter took me longer. So if you want these chapters to come faster, review. Review, and chapters will come faster!

Also, just in case anyone is wondering, the new navi at the end is indeed a fan character (I can't help myself :p)

Other than that, I am planning on including as many characters from Megaman NT Warrior as possible. The first of whom to be feature are Torchman, Mr. Match and Count Zap. Many more will follow. (Also, what do you think of how I wrote Mr. Match's Scottish Accent?)


	5. Knight in Dull Armor

Alright, here's chapter 5! Sorry that this took so long, I've just had alot going on, and I suck at time management. Anyway, it's here now! So please read and review!

_**Knight in Dull Armor**_

Burnerman picked himself up off the ground and turned to face his new opponent, a look of burning hatred on his face.

"And who the hell are you?"

"And why would I tell you? There's no use introducing myself to someone who's about to be nothing but waste data."

Burnerman looked over his opponent, trying to size him up. The newest navi to come into the battle seemed like some kind of medieval knight. His body was covered in pitch black armor. A small shield-like gauntlet was on each of his arms, and a similar form of armor was on each of his legs. Each of these small shields had a green gem in the middle, and was covered in silver markings which formed intricate patterns. His chest plate had a red gem in the middle, with more silver patterns extending outwards onto two large spiky shoulder pauldrons. On the left pauldron the silver patterning formed into a circle around a navi symbol, which was two crossed katanas. If you looked at him from the side, you could see two large blade-shaped pieces of armor extending over and past his shoulders. His head was completely covered in a small helmet which had a silver star on the top. The only thing which could be seen was a pair of bright red eyes and some short black hair. As Burnerman looked on, the new navi raised his right arm and gripped his hand into a fist. A second later, a sword burst out from the shield on his arm. It didn't appear to be an energy sword, but an actual two-sided metal blade.

"But I suppose I'll tell you anyway. My name is Blademan."

"Blademan huh? Not like it matters, your data will burn all the same!"

"We'll see."

Before Burnerman could utter another word, Blademan suddenly dashed towards him raising his sword before bringing it down for a quick slash, which Burnerman barely parried with his own flame sword. Blademan continued with his attack, each of which was only barely met by Burnerman, who continued to get pushed back. As he got more accustomed to Blademan's attacks, Burnerman began to smile as he started to plan a counterattack. Before he had the chance to strike though, Blademan's attack pattern suddenly changed and he quickly landed several slices along Burnerman's arms and legs.

"Gah! You, you son of a...how did you...?" Burnerman stepped backwards and questioned Blademan angrily.

"Simple, a good swordsman has more than one attack." Blademan replied.

"Fine then, here's another attack of mine!"

Burnerman raised his left arm and a jet of flame shot out at Blademan. As the flames neared him, Blademan raised his left arm, and the edges of the shield on it moved outwards slightly, and an energy shield appeared in front of it, blocking the flames.

"Enough, this is beginning to get boring."

Blademan swiped his left arm down as the flames dispersed. Dashing forward, the sword on Blademan's right arm seemed to split in two, and a jet of water appeared in between the two halves. As Blademan got closer, Burnerman raised his arm and shot out another blast of flame. As he was about to get hit by the flames, Blademan moved just slightly to the right at the last second, just enough that the flames missed him, while still allowing him to continue towards Burnerman. Before Burnerman had the chance to stop the flames and move, Blademan swiped his aqua blade upwards and severed Burnerman's left arm, abruptly ending the flames. Before Burnerman could so much as cry out, Blademan had already repositioned his arm and stabbed forward, impaling Burnerman on the aqua blade. His face became frozen in a look that was a mixture of shock and pain, Burnerman fell backwards as Blademan pulled the aqua blade out of his chest. The jet of water stopped and the blade reformed before sliding back up into Blademan's right arm. Blademan turned away from Burnerman's body and began walking towards Bass, Zero and Torchman.

"Pathetic, that fool wasn't even worth the effort." Blademan stated.

"Feh, of course. Like anything that bastard Omega created could have any merit." Bass replied.

"Now now, it's not polite to mock the dead you two." Zero added.

"Like it matters, I'm just-glad-that-punk-is-gone..." Torchman said slowly.

Blademan stopped in his tracks and looked at Torchman along with Zero and Bass as his speech slowed.

"Heheheh, like you could be rid of me that easily!"

Blademan looked behind him just as a jet of flame burst through his shoulder, knocking him to the ground. Turning his head, Blademan looked over at Burnerman.

"How, how are you still alive?" Blademan asked, his voice sounded in pain.

"Simple, the power of Lord Omega. He made it so that all his servants had the power to only be destroyed by a being of like power." Burnerman replied.

"Meaning?" Zero questioned as he moved to help Blademan up.

"Heh, only another fire-element navi can destroy me. And since the only other fire navi here is that fool," Burnerman said, pointing at Torchman, "I'd say you guys are you of luck. You'll all tire out eventually, but I will continue on! Before this day is out, you'll all be deleted!"

"No, that'd be you."

Burnerman came out of his ranting just in time to parry a flame sword strike from Torchman, who had rapidly approached Burnerman while he had been ranting.

"Like I'd let you do something like that!"

Torchman pushed Burnerman away before repositioning his arm and firing a stream of flame at him.

"If a fire navi has to beat you, then I'll be glad to turn you into a pile of ash."

As Burnerman flew through the air, he activated his rear jets, balancing himself out before sticking his arms behind him and igniting them and increasing the power of his back boosters, causing him to blast through the air towards Torchman. As he flew at him, the symbol on Burnerman's head glowed and a glowing blue flame extended from it like a spear. Burnerman continued to fly towards Torchman, his flame spear aiming to impale and incinerate him. As Burnerman rushed at him, Torchman just stood still and whispered to himself.

"Mr. Match, I think it's time. Download the new chip."

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In the real world, everyone in the chapel was watching the fight with baited breath. No one spoke, no one moved. Everyone was totally encompassed in the fight. No one dared to look away. Then, the silence was broken.

"First Bass, then Zero, now this new guy...where did they come from?"

The one who had spoken was Dex, who was the only one who ever looked away, occasionally looking at his PET to check on Gutsman. For some reason no one had been able to jack-out their netnavis, and Dex was getting more and more worried by the moment.

"Who knows...I'm just glad that they're helping us." Spoke Lan in reply. Glancing back at Dex, he could see the worry on his friend's face.

"Don't worry Dex, I'm sure we'll get him out in time."

Lan glanced back as Mayl spoke up. He could see that his new wife was probably more worried than anyone. Then it struck him again. He was married now. For just a few minutes now, he was married, and already something like this had happened.

_Why...why is it too much to ask to just have some peace in my life... _Lan thought to himself. He then looked back up at the screen to watch the battle, only to be distracted by a ringing that came from behind him.

Looking back, Lan saw Mr. Match answer his PET, and then get a large grin on his face.

"Alrigh' then! Sounds lik' a plan ta me!" Mr. Match said.

He reached back into his pocket, Mr. Match pulled out a battlechip and placed it into his PET.

_What...what is he up to?_ Lan thought. The only think he could do though, was look back at the broadcast screen and see what happened next.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

As Burnerman closed in on Torchman, he raised his right arm and braced his legs, as though about to compensate for a large recoil from a blast.

"Battlechip Data Received. Giga Chip, Download Complete."

The voice spoke out in Torchman's head, and data began to swirl around his right arm.

"Phoenix , Solar Flare!"

The data that had been swirling around Torchman's arm suddenly condensed and went inside of it, causing Torchman's arm to change shape, becoming something shaped like a futuristic laser blaster of some kind. Before Burnerman could wonder what the new arm form was about, he noticed a giant flame erupting behind Torchman. A solid shape emerged in the giant pillar of flame, and suddenly burst out, giant wings moving the flames away, revealing a Phoenix. It opened its mouth and unleashed a roar before spreading it's wings to their full length. Once the wings had cast a shadow over the area where Burnerman was, meteors began to rain down from its wings, forcing Burnerman to stop in mid air and focus his jets on evading the meteors. However, his efforts proved useless once a meteor struck him dead in the chest, followed by another against his right leg, then another against his oversized back, and the final one to hit him made contact against the square of his back, knocking the wind out of him. Before he even had the chance to land after the barrage, Burnerman looked back to see a sphere of glowing red energy in front of Torchman's altered arm.

"Here's the 'Solar Flare' part."

Burnerman could barely make out what Torchman said before the red sphere erupted in a massive blast of flaming energy, which engulfed his body in moments. As the blast ended, Burnerman was lying on the ground, burnt and steaming. He raised his head to look at Torchman, his whole face displaying pure hatred for the other fire navi.

"You, you damn old man! I swear it! I'll kill you! I'll roast you until nothing is left! I'll destroy everyone here! I'll turn this whole damn church! This whole damn city! This whole damn planet into a smouldering ruin! By the power of Omega! Burnerman, Final Command, Salamander!"

As Burnerman stopped talking, he began to writhe around, bringing his limbs in close before spread out, his orange armor blasting away from his body, leaving just black as his entire body became engulfed in raging flames. Burnerman jumped up, the flames his body was emitting propelling him as he blazed through the air towards Torchman. Once the flaming mass was only a few feet from him, Torchman raised his arm, and the flames simply blew away. Torchman's arm was connected to Burnerman's head. On Burnerman's face was a look of pure shock. Sticking out of the back of Burnerman's head was a flaming sword. Burnerman's body suddenly decomposed, swirling away into data which soon vanished, leaving only Torchman's flame sword, which receded back into his arm. Lowering his arm, Torchman breathed a sigh of relief.

"So...it's over then." Stated Zero.

"We should be able to destroy the viruses now..." said Bass in reply.

"Then...let's get to it..." said Blademan weakly, gripping the hole in his shoulder that had been created by Burnerman earlier.

The trio turned away from Torchman and headed towards the wall of viruses. Raising his sword, Zero took a swipe at them, and a good portion of them became halves which quickly vanished. None took their place.

"So, I was right. Burnerman was summoning them. Without him, all that's left is to clear them out." Said Zero.

"Then let's start." Bass replied.

Raising his arm into the air, Bass generated a sphere of dark energy in his hand and quickly threw it towards the viruses. As it reached them, the sphere expanded rapidly, destroying a large group of viruses. As they went, Blademan used his left arm, which could also create a sword, to clear out the few viruses they missed. Eventually, between Bass, Zero, Blademan, and the various other navis who had been at the wedding, the viruses were all gone in a few minutes.

"So...they're gone then...Hey, all you navis!" Blademan called out to all the navis who had been at the wedding, getting their attention, "With all the viruses and Burnerman gone, you should be able to jack-out."

The various navis realized this fact and after a moment and quickly called into their netops. After a moment, every navi had left the church, leaving only the three 'wedding crashers'.

"...That was pretty good for our first mission." Said Zero.

"We could have done better, I allowed myself to get injured." Relied Blademan.

"You couldn't have known that Omega had that kind of power." Stated Zero.

"Like it matters! He dropped his guard and paid the price." Bass said plainly.

"Now Bass-" started Zero.

"No...no, he's right. It's my own fault I got injured. For now, let's get outta here."

After their short description, the trio also jacked out.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Alright, Chapter 5, end! I hope everyone enjoyed it, cause that's the end. lol I kid I kid. I don't know when the next chapter will come out, but it will. Sooner than this one hopefully. Anyway, once more I ask for reviews and the like, as I have no will to write a new chapter if I have no evidence that people are reading.


	6. Waking to a Hidden Truth

I really should be in bed. I mean, it's 1:17AM. Normal people are in bed. I have to wake up at 9AM later to go for 11th Grade Orientation. Am I going to sleep? Nope, instead I'm writing another chapter of this fanfic. You're probably thinking stuff along the lines of 'WTF is wrong with this guy?' I dunno. I am messed up. I just feel like there's not enough time in a day...anyway, rather than going to sleep, I chose to write a second chapter in a row for Darkness Overtaking. I'm weird that way. Also, there's a little thing at the end of this chapter. Thanks to Jedielite for the inspiration for it.

_**Waking to a Hidden Truth**_

Lan slowly opened his eyes to a new day, light filtering into his bedroom through the drapes.

_Heh...this sure is a surprise_, He thought, _I'm awake before Megaman or an alarm clock..._

Before he had more time to think more on why he was awake early for once in his life, Lan was distracted by a soft sound next to him. Turning his head, Lan found the source of the sound. Lying in bed next to him was Mayl, still asleep. Lan could hear her soft breath as air escaped her lips. Lan smiled as the same thought visited him for the millionth time in the last few hours. He was married to Mayl. They'd known each other for their entire lives, and Mayl had loved him for who knows how long. Only recently had Lan realized that he had probably felt the same for just as long. And now they were together, in the same home, the same bed even. Following that train of thought, Lan's mind went back to the previous night.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Lan opened up the door to his apartment, Mayl following quickly behind him. Checking his PET for the thousandth time, Lan saw that Megaman was still in bad condition, but better from the time spent in his PET. Lan rushed over to a PC set up on a table behind his couch. Reaching out, he turned the machine on and grabbed a stray cable, plugging in his PET. Clicking a few keys on the keyboard, Lan set up a program in the PC, designed to be a sort of private room for Megaman. As he was finalizing the transfer from the PET to the program, he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Looking behind him, he saw Mayl reaching out with her PET.

"Send Roll in their too, I'm sure she'd want to be by his side..."

"...Right."

Lan grabbed his wife's PET from her hand, grabbing another cable to plug into Roll's PET, his movements slowed for a second.

_Wife..._he thought for a moment before returning to placing Roll inside the program as well.

After having placed both of their navis inside the Megaman Room Program, Lan breathed a sigh of relief. Megaman would be able to heal alot easier now, and Roll would only help the process. Turning around, Lan saw that Mayl wasn't in the living room with him anymore. Looking around, Lan saw a light coming from his room. Getting up, he walked over to the doorway and leaned in. Glancing to the right, Lan saw Mayl over at his bathroom sink. It wasn't the first time she'd been to his apartment, so she knew her way around. She was occupying herself with taking off her earrings and veil. Lan slowly approached her as she took off her veil. While she had her head down, Lan took the opportunity to get behind her, when she brought her head back up and looked in the mirror, Mayl jumped a little seeing Lan in the mirror. She turned around, seeming a bit annoyed.

"Wha-what the-Lan! Don't scare me like that! After what's happened today I'm still a bit-"

Before Mayl could say another word, Lan had reached his left arm around her, and pressed his lips against hers and started a passionate kiss. At first Mayl was shocked, but after a moment, she closed her eyes and went along with it, reaching her arms around the back of Lan's head. Before either of them knew it, they'd moved towards the bed. Lying Mayl down gentle on the bed, Lan finally broke off from their kiss, moving away hardly an inch, just enough to see Mayl's face. Her eyes were open now, looking up at him with a look of absolute love while her cheeks had turned a beautiful shade of pink and her mouth was slightly opened in this gentle, sweet smile. Lan could feel his hand reaching up her thigh, and he leaned in to kiss her again. After that, Lan's mind had gone totally blank.

***Bam!* **A sound of flesh hitting flesh.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hearing something, Lan was snapped out of his blissful thoughts of the previous night. While lost in his new favourite memory, he had wandered out onto the balcony of his apartment. Leaning out over the railing, Lan tried to figure out where the sound had come from. Then he heard it again, followed by a voice.

***Bam!*** "Ahahaha! How's that ya punk, want another one, or have ya had enough!?"

"Like hell!" ***Bam!***

Lan looked up at the balcony of the penthouse above him. In his apartment building, he'd gotten a room on the second last floor. He loved the view from so up high, and he'd actually gotten to know the people who lived on the penthouse above him. They were three guys who only ever seemed to do two things, argue and fight. Smiling, Lan decided to interfere in their latest fight.

"Hey guys, what's going on up there?!" Lan yelled up.

The sounds of fighting stopped abruptly, and two heads stuck themselves out over the penthouse balcony a moment later.

"Oh, hey Lan, what's up?" asked one of them.

"We didn't wake you, did we?" asked the other.

"Nah. Well, not from my actual sleep anyway, just from a really nice daydream." Replied Lan.

"Eh? What kinda daydream?" asked the first man.

"Well Nathan, I'd say it's the kinda daydream had by someone who was one of the two guests of honour there last night." Said the second man, pointing across a couple of blocks to the church where Lan's wedding had been the previous night.

"Eh? What're you talking about Ezio?" asked Nathan. After being met with silence for a few seconds, Nathan looked up as though in thought for a few seconds. Before looking back down at Lan suddenly, then looking out at open air, then looking back at Ezio.

"Wait, you mean?" Ezio nodded in response to Nathan's question. "Oh ho ho, Lan Hikari," said Nathan, looking back down at Lan, "You lucky man you!"

"So how is the Mrs.?" Asked Ezio.

"It is going to take me forever to get used to that sorta thing y'know! Anyway, she seems good, she's asleep right now." Replied Lan.

"So, how was she last night?" asked Nathan, only to get whacked upside the head by Ezio a moment later. "Hey, what was that for?!"

"For being an intrusive idiot. Leave the happy couple alone." Stated Ezio.

"Heh, you guys are the same as ever." Said Lan, laughing. "By the way, what were you fighting about earlier?"

"Oh nothing. We were just having a little spar is all." Replied Ezio.

"That, and you took the last slice of my pizza last night." Said Nathan.

"What, you're still angry about that? Get over it." Replied Ezio.

"Meh, whatever." Said Nathan.

"Anyway, hey Lan!" yelled Ezio down to Lan.

"Yeah, what is it?"

"What'd ya say to all of us taking you and your wife out to dinner tonight?"

"Sounds great. She'll be living here for a while, so she should probably get acquainted with you. Better at dinner than whacking your heads with something when she comes up to your door to complain about noise."

"Oh come on, we ain't that loud!" stated Nathan.

"Yeah, whatever you say. Oh, by the way, where's Lance?" asked Lan.

"Still asleep. If there's one person who sleeps more than you, it's him..." replied Ezio, "Speaking of which, I can't believe you're up this early!"

"Hey yeah man, it's hardly 9 in the morning! You're usually not up until...well at least 11:30. Usually later." Added Nathan.

"I know I know! I just can't help it! Anyway, I'll see you guys for dinner later." Said Lan before walking back into his apartment.

Stretching his arm back, Lan took a deep yawn and when he reopened his eyes, Lan saw Mayl suddenly in front of him, and was suddenly met with a quick kiss. As Mayl moved back, Lan grabbed her hips and pulled her in, giving her a kiss back. Pulling back, Lan looked over his wife quickly. She was wearing a short, thin pink nightgown. She didn't have her normal hairclip in place, so a few stray hairs had travelled across her face. Reaching up a hand, Lan brushed the away and gave her another quick kiss.

"So, how are you this morning dear?" asked Lan nonchalantly, as though it was the thousandth time he'd said it.

"Oh, pretty good honey, I had a wonderful night." Replied Mayl, equally nonchalantly.

"Heh, me too...heheh...heheheh....hehehehehahaha!"

After a moment, both Lan and Mayl broke out in laughter. Once they had calmed down, they embraced and kissed again. They were interrupted by a sound from Lan's PC, as a blue figure appeared on the screen, with a pink figure holding on to his arm.

"Hey guys, hope we're not interrupting anything too important." Said Megaman.

"Megaman! You're okay!" yelled Lan in joy.

"Yup, between some rest and Roll being with me all night, I feel better than ever!"

"Good to hear, I was really worried." Said Lan.

"Yeah, but that didn't stop you two from having some fun last night I bet." Said Roll.

This caused both Lan and Mayl to blush somewhat. After a slightly awkward moment, Lan remembered what he had talked about with Ezio and Nathan earlier, and turned to Mayl.

"By the way, we got invited to dinner tonight." Said Lan.

"Really, by who?" inquired Mayl.

"The guys who live in the penthouse above us." Replied Lan.

"Huh...I don't think I've ever met them...do you know them that well?" asked Mayl.

"Yeah, I've never been up there, and they've never been down here, but we talk at our balconies. I consider them pretty good friends." Said Lan.

"Well, why didn't I see them at the wedding then?"

"Oh well, I invited them, but they said they were busy that night."

"Knowing them, they were out partying or something..." said Megaman.

"Really? Who skips out on a wedding just to go to some random party?" asked Roll.

"They have this thing about keeping plans. Once they've scheduled something, they don't change it. It's just a weird hang-up they have." Replied Megaman.

"Still, they're good guys." Said Lan.

"Alright, if you say so Lan. So, when are we going to have dinner with them?" asked Mayl.

"Oh...ah...umm...I dunno, I forgot to ask...ah, give me just one moment." Said Lan before rushing out to the balcony.

Reaching the edge of the balcony, Lan looked up and yelled.

"Hey, you guys still up there!?"

After a moment, nothing happened. Then, a moment later, a new face leaned over the penthouse balcony.

"Hey Lan, what's up?" asked the new man.

"Oh, hey Lance. Did Nathan or Ezio mention anything about dinner tonight?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, Ezio said he invited you and your new wife out to dinner tonight."

"Ah right...he didn't happen to mention when did he?"

"Huh? Yeah, just meet us down in the parking garage at five."

"Okay, got it. See ya tonight!" said Lan, going back into his apartment.

"Yeah, see ya." Answered Lance, moving away from his balcony.

Back in his apartment, Lan went over to Mayl.

"So, did you find out what time dinner is?" she asked.

"Yeah. We're supposed to meet them down in the parking garage at five." Replied Lan.

Once he was close enough to Mayl, he gently gripped her hips and she placed her arms over his shoulders and again they leaned into each other for a kiss. After a few seconds, Lan pulled away and looked at his new wife. Every time he got a good look at her, Lan was just blown away at the thought of just how lucky he was to be married to her.

"So, how about some breakfast?"

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Zhane: Well, that's it. Chapter 6 of my fanfic. And from now on, I'll be doing a little, comedy, joke, thing at the end. Live with it.

Ezio: Why is it that you feel the need to constantly use negative reinforcement on yourself?

Zhane: Simple. If people take me lightly, it seems funny, and if people take me seriously, it doesn't make me look overly self-centered.

Ezio: Well if that's your thinking, it's no wonder no one ever reads your fanfics. Or watches your AMVs.

Zhane: Yeah, I know.

Ezio: Or pays attention to your posts on forums.

Zhane: I get it.

Ezio: And why you can never get a word in discussions.

Zhane: Alright! I get it already!

Ezio: No need to blow up...

Zhane: Yeah, whatever. Anyway, to end this chapter people, I'll post basic profiles of Lan and Mayl's upstairs neighbours. Enjoy, and see ya next time.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Name: Lance Gareth  
Gender: M  
Age: 27  
Profession: Robotics Designer  
Likes: Rock Music, Collectable Swords, Adventure Movies, Sporty women, Fantasy Novels, Pools, Basketball  
Dislikes: Country Music, Horror Movies

Name: Ezio Firez  
Gender: M  
Age: 27  
Profession: Professional Fencer  
Likes: Romance Novels, Professional Swords, Drama Films, Women, Soccer  
Dislikes: Guns, Those who hurt Women

Name: Nathan Learn  
Gender: M  
Age: 26  
Profession: Collectable Store Clerk  
Likes: Shade, Bars, Anime, Baseball, Cute Girls, TV  
Dislikes: People who talk too much

Now each of these guys has an origin to their name. I'll give a guest spot of some kind to someone who can guess the name origins of at least one of these three characters :p see ya next time. Also, it's now 4:26 AM...damn I'm an idiot.


	7. Kings of the Night

Alright! A new chapter after nearly 3 months! Sorry for taking so long, but I was sorta caught up with school and stuff. Anyways, I don't have too much to say, so on with the chapter! Also, for those who like my writing, I'm currently working on a new Kamen Rider Decade fanfic, so keep an eye out. Anyways:

_**Kings of the Night**_

Mayl reached up and brushed Lan's struggling hands aside, wrapping her own hands around his neck as she helped him make up a tie. As she helped him with his tie, Mayl felt the need to ask Lan something.

"Don't you think we're getting just a bit overdressed?"

"Ah-not too much. Remember how I said they have weird hang-ups? One is always going to the nicest place possible when taking someone out to dinner."

"Uh, Lan, just how many of these 'hang-ups' do these guys have?"

"Eh, who knows?"

Finishing with Lan's tie, Mayl stepped back and looked him over. Lan was dressed in a fairly nice suit jacket that was a light black color, under which was a plain black shirt with the tie tucked in between, the pattern on it being black with the Hikari family symbol scattered around on it, and to complete the outfit he wore a pair of black work pants. At the same time she was looking him over; Lan took the chance to look over what Mayl was wearing. Her hair was tied back with her usual hairclip, and she had some slight make-up on. She was wearing a long dark pink dress that was loose around the legs while being tight around the body. It was a strapless dress and was cut off just a couple inches above her breasts. As she finished looking him over, Mayl looked back up at Lan's face.

"Hey Lan?"

"Huh-oh, yeah? What is it dear?"

"Tehe, oh it's just that," Mayl began with a giggle at hearing Lan say 'dear', "You're sort of blushing alot, _honey_."

"Ah, what?" Lan said, a little taken back at hearing Mayl counter his 'dear' with 'honey'.

"You are, you're face is going nearly bright red!" Mayl pointed out, almost matter-of-factly.

"Ah, well...it's just that you look really pretty in your dress..."

"Oh, really. Well, I'm happy you like it." Mayl said with a quick twirl that sent the bottom of the dress flapping from the left to the right.

"We-well I guess that I-I'm happy that your happy." Lan said, blushing more every second.

"You know, if you two can't even stop acting like a new teenage couple going to their first dance, I don't know how you'll ever manage marriage." Megaman suddenly spoke up.

"He's got a good point you two." Roll agreed.

"Hmph, whatever," Mayl said, a little flustered for some reason at the Navi's comments, "Shouldn't we get going, you're friends said to meet them down at the garage at five."

"Huh? Oh, yeah! Let's get going." Lan said, grabbing Mayl lightly by the hand and leading her out of the apartment.

It only took a couple of minutes to get from their floor down to the parking garage, but Lan and Mayl found Lance, Ezio and Nathan already waiting for them. Just as Lan had thought, all three of them were also dressed up. Lance wore an open black fleece suit jacket with a very dark green shirt underneath along with black sweat pants while his hair was what seemed to be a well groomed mess. Ezio was probably the best dressed out of the whole group, wearing what seemed to be a white military dress uniform of some kind with an elbow length cape over his left shoulder with a red cord connecting it to a golden button on the right shoulder of his outfit and his hair stroked back, tied into a short ponytail. Nathan meanwhile wore a black suit which was done up unlike Lance's, but the V-neck showed he was wearing a dark purple shirt underneath it. Similar to Lan he was wearing black work pants, and his hair was gelled over to the right.

"Well, aren't we a well dressed group." Lance said as he noticed Lan and Mayl approaching them.

"Good to see you Lan, I don't think we've had too much communication beyond talking at our balconies." Ezio said as he thought out loud. "And this must be your lovely new wife!" he said as he bent over and gently took Mayl's hand, giving it a quick kiss before letting go and righting himself. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"Ah, very nice to meet you as well." Mayl said, blushing a little at the unusually regal manner that Ezio seemed to give off.

"Heheh, I'd watch out if I were you man!" Nathan said, elbowing Lan.

"Please do not make me out to be such a player Nathan, simply because I conduct myself with a higher set of manners." Ezio replied.

"Uh-huh, yeah, sure...anyway, where did you park last Lance?"

Silence.

"Lance?" Ezio questioned.

Lance's head seemed to twitch as came out of something like a trance.

"Eh? Wha-ah, what is it?"

"Where does your head go half of the time man?" Nathan questioned.

"Who knows?" Was Lance's only response.

"Anyway, Lance where'd you park the car?" Ezio asked again.

"Huh? Oh yeah, right over there." Lance responded, pointing off a couple cars down before taking a set of keys out of his pocket.

Walking over in the direction he had pointed. Turning when he reached the desired vehicle, Lan and the others could see the lights flash and hear the engine roar as Lance started the vehicle. The rest of the group waited as Lance brought his car up. Despite probably being the least well dressed of the group, Lance seemed to have the nicest car. It was a brand new luxury SUV, eight person capacity with comfortable heated leather seats, a V8 engine, and all the possible trimmings and accessories. Lance drove it around the garage before bringing it up next to his friends so they could get in.

"Wow Lance, this is a really nice ride!" Lan said, impressed.

"Why do you sound so surprised? I design robots, which is actually a pretty well paying job."

"Oh yeah, still I didn't think you spent it on stuff like such a fancy SUV."

"Meh, not too much else to spend it on." Lance replied before shifting his vehicle into gear and driving out of the garage.

It took about ten minutes for them to reach the restaurant as the building the restaurant was in was in the middle of downtown. It was a fairly tall building, and was shaped like a giant cylinder. Only the top floor was a restaurant, the rest was apparently a hotel. As such it had a parking complex built in. Paying a fee to get in, Lance managed to find a spot quite quickly, and close to the elevator leading up to the main floor too. Exiting the elevator leading from the garage to the main lobby, the group found themselves in a magnificent area that seemed to be totally crafted in gold.

"Amazing, it's so pretty." Mayl said, struck by the shimmering gold that the lobby of the hotel seemed to be made out of.

"Hey, hey Ezio." Nathan whispered to Ezio silently.

"What?"

"I'm willing to bet 30 bucks that Mayl's gonna be wearing a new piece of gold jewellery by Friday, and that the jewellery store nearest home will have a couple hundred more dollars in the register."

There was a few seconds of silence, and Nathan seemed to lose interest in the bet, when Ezio answered.

"Sure, you're on."

Nathan stopped for a couple moments, a little dumbstruck before smiling to himself and continuing on, catching up with the group as they entered the elevator in the lobby that led up to the restaurant. As they were riding the elevator, Lan felt the need to ask a question.

"Why is it that you have to take one elevator from the garage to the lobby, and then another from the lobby to the top floor?"

"Eh, who knows? Maybe it was just how they had to build it?" Nathan replied.

"Probably, based on the strength of the ground around here, and positioning of the garage for easy accessibility, they probably had to make it that way." Lance added in.

"Huh, guess that makes sense." Lan said, satisfied.

"Ah, we've reached the top floor." Ezio said as the elevator doors opened to reveal the top floor restaurant.

Though not crafted out of gold like the hotel lobby, the restaurant was still an impressive sight. To the left of the elevator was a table with decorations set up on it, and to the right was a podium with a waiter standing behind it.

"Hello there," the waiter greeted, "Do you have a reservation?"

"Yes, we do." Ezio replied, "It should be under Ezio Firez."

"Ah, give me just a moment." The waiter said as he scrolled his finger down a list at his podium, "Here we are, Ezio Firez, table for five?"

"Yes that's it."

"Right this way then!" the waiter said as he grabbed five menus from under the podium before walking away from the elevator, soon followed by the group.

The restaurant was patterned as a circle, wrapping all the way around the top floor of the hotel. As he stepped out into the actual restaurant from the elevator entrance area, Lan found his leg pulled slightly to the side. Looking down, he could see that the restaurant seating area was actually rotating around the center of the building. As the waiter seated them and gave them their menus, Mayl looked out the window to see the panoramic view of the city from the top floor of the hotel. As she turned to try and get Lan to see it, she found him looking in the opposite direction, at the floor.

"Hey, Lan..." No reply. "Lan?" Still nothing. "...Oh Honey?"

"Eh, what?" Lan quickly turned around, blushing somewhat.

"What are you so busy staring at? You should take a look at the view!"

"Huh, oh sorry. I was just thinking about how it's sort of odd that the floor circles around the whole building, seems like an odd thing for a restaurant to have, doesn't it?"

"Maybe so, but it really makes it cool that you're able to see the whole city, quite a beautiful site if you ask me." A reply came from Lance, who was staring out of the window as the panoramic view slowly moved by.

"Yeah, it really does." Said Mayl, who was also engrossed in the view.

Looking over her shoulder, Lan could see what they meant. At this time of night almost every light in the city was lit, illuminating the whole cityscape in shining black and gold light. Down below you could just make out people walking along the busy streets, and the neon signs hung outside the bottom floors glowing along the streets, their glow rising up to the higher levels, adding to the light already given off by the high up rooms. At this time, the city simply seemed to shimmer.

"Umm excuse me?"

Lan and Mayl turned around to see a waiter holding out a pen and paper.

"Would you like to order drinks?"

"Oh sure," Lan replied, having been snapped out of looking at the city, "I'll take a Chai Moka Latte please."

"Very good sir, and you miss?"

"I'll take a 1:1:1 Strawberry Margarita with Lime, thanks." Mayl said as she cruised her eyes over the menu.

"Alright then, and you sir?"

"I'll take a Barbera Red Wine if it's available." Ezio replied to the waiter.

"Yes we do, very good choice. And what would you like sir?"

"A pint of Budweiser."

"Okay then, and lastly how about you sir?"

"I'll take a Cranberry Juice," Lance replied, still not having taken his eyes off the city view, "No ice please."

"Very good then, your drinks should be here shortly." The waiter said as he moved off.

"You know Lance," Ezio began to start a conversation, "I've always found it weird that you never drink alcohol. I don't think I've seen you drinking, not even once."

"Come to think of it, neither have I..." Nathan mumbled to himself.

"What? He's seriously never had a drink? Not even at his 21st Birthday or anything?" Lan questioned.

"Not as far as I know." Ezio replied.

"Yeah, same here." Added in Nathan.

The three other men leaned in slightly while looking at Lance, who was still staring outside. After a moment, he took notice that everyone was staring at him.

"What? So I don't drink," he said, "I just never liked the taste of it. Thought I did once...nearly threw up half an hour later."

"Really?" Ezio started, "And when exactly was this?"

"Huh? Oh, ah...well it was...umm..." Lance said, sounding a bit thrown off, "I think it was when I was about...12."

"What?!" Nathan suddenly yelled, attracting a few looks from around the restaurant, "That was like, half your life ago, and you haven't tried any kinda drink since?"

"Nope, not really." Lance replied.

"Well how can you say that you don't like it, if you haven't tried anything in so long?" Lan asked.

"I just do, okay. It's not my thing. Besides, it makes me the perfect designated driver." Lance replied before looking out the window again.

"Well, at least that seems convenient," Mayl suddenly said after having been quietly looking at her menu for the last few minutes, "It lets these two," she said, pointing at Ezio and Nathan, "Drink to their hearts content!"

"Hey now, you make us sound like a couple of drunks." Ezio said, jokingly looking a little taken back by Mayl's comment.

"Well, you maybe, but I-" Nathan started before the waiter came with their drinks passing out the various beverages. Taking his in hand, Nathan took a quick gulp of his beer before setting it down, "-ehem, I really like having a friend who can be my driver on party nights!"

"So you'd reduce me down to the level of 'your driver' huh?" Lance said before taking a sip of his juice.

"Oh come on man, you know I don't mean it like that!" Nathan said apologetically.

"In any event of your drinking preferences, I would like to propose a toast." Ezio said raising up his glass, "To Lan and Mayl, congratulations on your wedding, and may you have many happy days to come!"

"Can't help but agree on that." Lance said raising up his glass.

"Here Here!" Nathan stated in agreement, raising up his beer too.

"Well, thank you very much!" Mayl said, blushing as she raised up her margarita glass.

"Thank you guys, for the toast, and for bringing us to this great restaurant." Lan said as he too raised up his glass before they all clinked their drinks together before taking a gulp.

Finishing the toasting sip of his beer, Nathan set his drink down again before looking over to see that the waitress who had brought the drinks hadn't left yet.

"Oh, so you're all here for a wedding party then!" she spoke up.

"Um, yes sort of. We're just three bachelors taking a friend and his new wife out to dinner." Nathan answered.

"Oh well, congratulations then!" the waitress aid, giving a slight bow to Mayl and Lan before bringing up a small pad and a pen, "Anyway, would you all like to order?"

"Oh yeah, right!" Nathan said, palming his forehead as he realized why the waitress had been standing around, "I'd like a triple platter of buttermilk pancakes with crisp bacon and some hard poached eggs."

"I'd like some spaghetti with meat sauce, parmesan cheese, and a side of garlic toast." Replied Ezio giving his order.

"I'll have a ham and cheese omelette with some Cajun spice, oregano and garlic powder." Said Lance for his order.

"Umm, I'd like a Caesar salad with raspberry vinaigrette dressing please." Mayl stated as her order.

"And as for me, I'll have the same as him." Lan said, pointing at Ezio.

"Alright then, your food should be here shortly." The waitress said as she walked away.

"You know..." Mayl started, "This is a really nice dinner. Thank you for inviting us."

"But of course, we were glad to madam." Ezio replied.

"Well, you know what they say, a dinner with friends is better than a dinner alone." Nathan said.

"Agreed." Ezio said, finishing a sip of his wine, "Hmm, this is a surprisingly good wine, great quality, nicely aged, and the flavour comes through incredibly well. Normally I don't get something quite so good, I do say I got lucky tonight. Then again, I hear that some consider a dinner with newlyweds to be a lucky thing."

"Is that why you invited them Ezio, to improve your chances at a good bottle of wine?" Nathan said with a jokingly sly look at Ezio.

"What?!" Ezio scoffed with a comedically exaggerated expression, "You would insult my honor like that?! How dare you!" he finished before sitting down and breaking out into laughter, which was soon matched by Nathan.

"Ha-ahha-heh...so Lan, how's life with a Mrs?" Nathan asked.

"Eh? Oh, well, yah know we've only just moved in after the wedding, so there hasn't even been a chance to unpack her things yet." Lan replied.

"Yeah, we've hardly gotten anything out of my boxes yet! You can't even see the couch." Mayl added.

"You say 'we', but you just sat around sipping coffee all day while pointing at where to put stuff while I unpacked." Lan rebuffed.

"Is that so?" Nathan said with a slight giggle at the couples little mini argument.

"So, do you guys have a plan for a honeymoon?" Lance asked suddenly.

"Huh?" Lan said, a little offset by the question, as he actually hadn't planned anything.

"Nope, nothing." Mayl spoke up suddenly as Lan looked somewhat dejected, "He wasn't able to schedule or budget enough time or money to arrange for one-"

"Listen, I'm sorry Mayl, I really wanted to be able to take you on the best trip possible but-"

"But I'm okay with that. We can just make the best of what we have at home, right?" Mayl said while leaning in closer to Lan.

"Wha-uh, yeah...yeah you're right." Lan said, blushing.

While Mayl leaned in towards her husband and he blushed in response, Ezio had his hand up and was rubbing it against his chin, looking like he was thinking about something.

As Ezio was thinking, the waitress came with their food, passing Mayl her salad, Lan and Ezio their spaghetti pastas, Lance his omelette, and Nathan his pancake platter. Nathan immediately buttered his pancakes before slicing them up and soaking them in syrup. Mayl and Lan took their forks and mixed their food around, making sure that the sauces covering each of their dishes was well mixed in. Lance cut each bite off of his omelette one at a time rather than cutting it all up at once. Ezio meanwhile wasn't doing anything, still in thought seemingly. Finally, he snapped out of it.

"Hey, I've got an idea!" He said, bringing his hand down from his chin and hitting it against his hand as a fist, "Why don't we take you guys on a full, all-expenses-paid honeymoon!"

"What, with all five of us? Wouldn't that be a bit awkward?" Lan replied jokingly, looking up from his meal.

"No I'm serious. We were all thinking of taking a cruise soon, so why don't we bring you guys along?"

"Thanks for the offer, but I don't think that'd quite be the same as a real honeymoon." Mayl said.

"Oh c'mon. We'd buy you two a full honeymoon package, room, dinner, everything!" Ezio said, trying to convince the couple to go along with his idea.

"Hey, Ezio, by 'We'd buy you two a full honeymoon package', you mean you right?" Nathan asked.

"He better. I've hardly got any cash between my car and the penthouse." Lance said.

"Yeah, and unlike everyone else here I work a totally dead-end job, ain't no way I got enough to pay for a honeymoon."

"Yes," Ezio began with a sigh, "_I_ would pay for everything."

"You got that right rich boy." Lance said before going back to drinking his cranberry juice.

"Yes yes, of course." Ezio said with another sigh.

"Well, I still dunno..." Lan said, still a little uncertain, despite a gargantuan desire to take up his friends offer.

"If Ezio alone would be paying for every little thing, I'd feel bad about it." Mayl said.

"Oh don't worry about him," Nathan replied to the couples concerns, "In addition for having a professional sportsman's salary, he's the heir to a huge fortune, the son of a wealthy family of Italian nobles."

"What, seriously?" Lan said, hugely surprised by this, "You never said anything about that Ezio!"

"Yes, for a reason. I'm not on exactly what you'd call 'good terms' with my parents. Or most of my relatives for that matter, the only people I stay in contact with are my brother and sister. Still, despite only ever sending letters to my siblings, I always find a cheque from my parents along with their responses..." Ezio leaned his head back for a moment, seemingly in thought before swinging it back down, a smile now spread across his face, "So c'mon! You don't have to worry about me financially, so why don't you come along and have your honeymoon?"

"Well, I still dunno..." Lan said. After thinking for a moment, he looked over at Mayl. Her face still seemed to be saying 'no', but as he looked into her eyes, he could tell how much she wanted to go on this trip, "Okay, we'll take you up on your offer!" Lan decided.

"What?! But Lan, what about your job, do you think you'll be able to get enough time off work?" Mayl said, voicing her concern.

"Don't worry about it!" Lan said, "I'm sure I'll be able to get enough time off to take a nice cruise. Besides, I'd much rather be out at sea with you than in a lab trying to figure out how to put myself in a computer."

"I see, is that what you're working on now?" Lance said, hearing Lan saying his current project.

"What? Whoops, probably shouldn't have said anything!" Lan said, throwing his hands up to cover his mouth.

"Oh no, you're not going to have to kill us now or something are you?" Nathan said laughing.

"Heheh, no. It's bound to get out sometime. Still, it's not like it matters, I'm having no luck on it."

"All the same then. Maybe having this honeymoon will help get your creative juices flowing." Ezio said.

"Yeah, among other things." Nathan said with a snicker before getting hit upside his head by Lance.

Mayl blushed at Nathans joke while Lan just looked confused. His eyes wandered upwards as he tried to figure the joke out. A moment later, his eyes shot downwards as he too blushed at the joke, making him remember his previous night with Mayl.

"Tell me something Nathan, are dirty jokes the only kind you know how to tell?" Ezio asked.

"Better that it be dirty than not exist at all." Nathan replied.

"Are you implying that I don't have a sense of humor?" Ezio asked.

"Maaaaybe." Was the only reply Nathan gave. This however, caused Ezio to hit him upside the head.

"Hey! Why is it that you guys are always doing that?!" Nathan asked in outrage.

"Simple, it shuts you up...usually." Ezio replied.

"Eh, good enough." Lance added.

"Yeah...so, when is this cruise anyway?" Lan asked.

"Huh? Oh yes, of course," Ezio replied, a bit upset that he'd left out such a crucial detail, "The ship departs in five days. That should be enough time for you guys to get packed and schedule some time off work."

"Okay then, we'll meet you at the port in five days around 10am, okay?" Lance asked.

"Sounds good." Lan replied.

"I guess so..." Mayl said, still seeming a little unsure about the whole thing, even though Lan could tell she was incredibly excited about the trip.

"Well I'm glad I could convince you then." Ezio said before finally starting to eat his spaghetti.

An hour later, the dinner was finished and the group arrived back at the apartment building. Finishing with their goodbyes, Mayl and Lan entered the elevator while the trio decided to take the stairs instead. As the elevator flew up to their floor, Lan looked over at Mayl to see her pulling her hair clip out before ruffling her hair. She had let her hair grow out over time, while it had once only reached down to just about her shoulders even with the clip out, her hair now came down to about halfway between her shoulder and elbow. He had to admit, he thought she looked better with her hair a bit longer.

"So Lan-" Mayl suddenly spoke up, "-We're going on a cruise huh?"

"Umm...yeah. I'm sorry for just deciding on it, but I thought a nice vacation would do us both good. Besides, I can tell you really want to go, no matter what you said."

"Heh, yeah...I know. I guess I was willing to just shove it aside until we could find a better time, but if these guys are so willing to let us, I'm happy about it." Mayl said with a giggle.

As the elevator got to the top, Mayl suddenly grabbed Lan's arm and pulled him down to the door of their apartment. Pulling out her own key to the room, she opened the door and dragged him in and over to the bedroom.

"Anyway, there's no reason our vacation can't start now." She said, reaching up and giving Lan a deep kiss.

"Heh, yeah, you're right." Lan said, smiling as he returned her kiss. For the zillionth time, Lan thanked whatever goddess of luck was watching over him that he had asked Mayl to marry him.

* * *

ZhaneX: Alright, there it is. Chapter...7 was it? I sorta lost track...

Nathan: More like 7 and 8, holy hell you made this thing long. I'm looking it over now, and it's about twice as long as your normal chapters.

ZhaneX: Yeah, tell me about it. I guess that's what I get for taking three days to write it rather than my normal one.

Ezio: Well, better to be longer than shorter. It may take more out of you, but a longer, well written, chapter holds an audience's attention better than a short badly written one, or even a short well written one, and especially better than a long badly written one.

ZhaneX:...I'm not sure whether I'm insulted by what you just said or not.

Ezio: Don't worry, I wouldn't allow myself to be in a story if it was anything other than long and well written.

ZhaneX: I see...well thank you then.

Nathan: Hey y'know something? As I look this over, you seem to have a thing for sex. You describe an obviously sexual situation at the end of the chapter, and several sex puns throughout the story. What's up with that?

ZhaneX: Hey, I don't see how that's any of your business! Besides, who's the one who made all the puns?

Nathan:...

ZhaneX: Anyway, I'll see everyone for the next chapter! (Which will hopefully roll around sooner than this one...then again, this one's double length, so don't get annoyed if I wait double time for the next one...jk...or not...;)


	8. That's Interesting

Alright, here's chapter 8...I've got nothin' to say. I felt like writing a chapter, it hasn't been too long since the last one, nothing that special to note...so...here: (Oh wait, a piece of Aztec Gold to the lucky person who can get where I got this Chapter's title from :p)

_**That's Interesting...**_

Lan shifted his car into park and removed the keys from the ignition after he pulled into a good parking space at the docks. Opening his door, he walked around to the back of his compact little car while Mayl headed onward to the dock where a magnificent looking ship was currently docked. While she went to find Lance, Ezio and Nathan, Lan was left opening the trunk of his car and hefting out several bags. He had packed two bags, one large containing his clothing and such, and a smaller shoulder bag that contained his laptop. Mayl on the other hand had packed three, all large, and all containing clothes. Clothes. And more clothes.

"Yay..." Lan grumbled to himself, shouldering his laptop back and extending the handle on his bag, which luckily had wheels.

On the other hand, Mayl's bags didn't have handles, or wheels. One was a duffle bag, which Lan placed on his shoulder that wasn't occupied by his laptop. He grabbed the other two suitcases and after a couple of attempted lifts, managed to lift them up. Standing on the tips of his toes, he managed to close the trunk with his chin before heading down to the docks.

Eventually he was able to locate Mayl, who had found Lance, Nathan and Ezio on the docks. He grimaced when he saw just how little ach of them was carrying. Lance had only a large backpack, Nathan had a moderately sized suitcase, a little smaller than the one Lan had packed, and Ezio had a duffle bag which was a bit bigger than Mayl's. Of course, he only had one though. Setting down the bags for a moment, Lan looked up at the ship that they'd be taking the cruise on. Gigantic didn't begin to describe it. The thing rose at least 70 meters above the water, and looked nearly 400 meters long.

"Holy crap this thing's huge..." Lan muttered as he examined the ship.

"Of course, it's the world's largest cruise ship." Ezio said, "The Oasis of the Seas. 16 decks, 2700 staterooms, and enough activities that you could find something new to do no matter how many cruises you take."

"In other words, name something and you can probably do it on board." Lance cut in.

"Surfing?" Lan suggested.

"There are two surfing simulators." Lance replied.

"A casino?"

"Of course."

"Restaurants?"

"Several."

"Couples massage?"

"Ah huh."

"A gym?"

"A couple."

"If this place has a science lab I'm moving in." Lan said with a smirk.

"Doesn't seem like you packed nearly enough." Lance replied.

"Seriously? Man, I can't wait to get on board!" Lan exclaimed.

"Then hurry up you two, boarding just started!" Mayl cried from a few yards away, having gotten in a line leading up a ramp into the ship with Nathan and Ezio.

"Hey wait up!" Lan exclaimed grabbing the bags before hurrying to the line with Lance.

About a half an hour later the group was putting their bags down in a luxurious suite. The room took up two decks due to the master suite being located above the main floor. The suite was located on the second highest deck with rooms, with the master bedroom and bathroom on an upper level that was on the highest deck.

"Welcome to the loft suite!" Ezio declared motioning around the large suite, "There's a master bedroom and secondary bedroom, a Baby Grand Piano-"

"Something that only interests you..." Nathan interrupted.

"Ehem, a full balcony with bar and hot tub, and a bathroom on each level." Ezio concluded proudly, though with a glare at Nathan for his interruption."

"Thank you for that Ezio, maybe you should be an advertisement exec. Instead of a Fencer." Lance said with a groan, "Anyway, Lan and Mayl, you guys can have the second floor all to yourselves. We invited you for a honeymoon, so it's only right that you get the Master Space all to yourselves. You two," He indicated Nathan and Ezio, "Can share the secondary bedroom. I'll take the couch."

Concluding his room assignments, Lance tossed his bag onto the couch and flopped down on it.

"Hey wait a second." Ezio said with a glare at Lance, "I bought this place, shouldn't I get to decided who sleeps where?"

"You're not getting the couch, live with it." Lance said, closing his eyes with a smile.

"Hey, what if I don't want to sleep in the same room as him!" Nathan cried out, pointing at Ezio.

"Would you two just shut up and live with it?" Lance said, opening his eyes and glaring at the two of them.

"...fine." They both agreed, taking their bags and going around to their room, located next to the piano, though a moment later Ezio poked his head out of the door, "By the way you two, I booked you for a fancy dinner at one of the restaurants on board, Chops Grille!"

"Doesn't sound all that fancy for a honeymoon dinner..." Mayl complained.

"Trust me, it's the nicest place on board. Great well rounded food, and a nice fancy atmosphere at night, it'll be perfect for you guys." He replied before heading back into his room.

"Alright..." Mayl groaned, still a bit uncertain.

"Anyways," Lance picked himself up off the couch, walking over to the door and putting on his shoes, "I'm going to go look around. If anyone wants to find me, I'll probably be up at the pool. Later."

Lance departed the room just as Ezio and Nathan came out of theirs, heading towards the door as well.

"Where are you two going?" Lan asked, the bags still hanging off his limbs.

"I'm going to check out the Exercise Facilities." Ezio replied.

"And I'm gonna check out the casino." Nathan replied in turn.

Putting their shoes on, the two exited the room, leaving Lan and Mayl alone.

"...are you ever going to take the bags up to our room?" Mayl asked, turning to Lan.

"Wha-? Oh right!" Lan said before rushing up to the master bedroom with the bags.

Placing them down on the bed, Lan had just turned around when Mayl suddenly pushed him down onto their bed, a mischievous smile spread across her face.

"You know, it was awfully nice of your friends to invite us on this cruise." She said with a hint of seduction in her voice as she leaned in and gave Lan a quick kiss.

"Yeah, I guess it was..." Lan replied as he gave her a kiss back, though as he did he stuck his tongue out slightly and parted her lips.

Mayl readily opened her mouth and they began a deep passionate kiss, each of them lost in the moment.

"Wow, hope I'm not intruding on anything." A voice suddenly said, interrupting their moment.

The couple were forced out of their kiss as they looked over to the glass door of their room to find a white haired man in the frame. He was wearing a red trench coat with a white shirt visible underneath and black cargo pants.

"Ch-Chaud?! What are you-" Lan said in surprise while Mayl hastily climbed off of him, her face blushing to the point of her face resembling a tomato.

"A better question is, how'd you get in here?!" She yelled at him, her blush only deepening, if that was possible.

"Oh simple, those Apartment Buddies of Lan's let me in on their way out." Chaud said, pointing in the general direction of the door to the suite.

"Okay...why didn't you leave when you...saw us then?" Lan asked, blushing slightly himself.

"Oh I don't know, I guess I just felt like being a dick there for a minute. Sorry for interrupting the moment." Chaud said, only seeming partially apologetic.

"Right...what are you doing here anyway?" Lan asked, his blush going away now.

"Well after the...events of your wedding, it was decided that important parties should get some security." Chaud explained.

"And we're an important party?" Lan asked sarcastically.

"Well you, the mayor, the head of the water purification plant, and the President of Ayano Tech."

"What?! Dex, Tori and Yai are all here?" Mayl nearly screamed in surprise.

Removing his hands from his ears after Mayl's scream, Chaud nodded his head and replied.

"Yeah, what are the chances you'd all take a vacation at the same time?" Chaud said sarcastically while shrugging, "But you were, so me and Raika among others were told to come here and act as security."

"Rakia's here too?" Lan asked.

"Yeah, I think he's keeping watch over at the stern of the ship right about now." Chaud replied, "Anyway, I'd better get going." Chaud said, turning around and heading out of the room, "I'll see you guys around the ship." Waving from behind, he headed down the stairs and proceeded out the door.

"THANKS FOR KILLING THE MOOD!" Lan yelled after him before sitting back down next to Mayl.

"So...what now?" he asked.

"Well, like you said, he totally killed the mood so why don't we go explore the ship?" she replied.

"Works for me." Lan said, standing up and head down the stairs, quickly followed by Mayl.

A little later, Lan and Mayl wandered into the casino. Looking around, they saw an abnormally large group gathered around a roulette table. Wandering over, they found that the crowd was there watching two men arguing while the roulette wheel spun. The men in question were Dex and Nathan. Nathan abruptly stood up in victory while Dex just looked dejected. But it didn't last because the moment Nathan had received his money, the two men glared at each other before resuming the game.

"Hey guys." Lan said, managing his way through the crowd to his two friends, Mayl close behind him.

"Oh, hey Lan." Dex and Nathan said at the same time before doing a double take back to glaring back at each other, "You know Lan?" they said in unison again, "Yeah who're you?" again, they spoke in unison.

"I in the same apartment complex as Lan, in the room directly above his." Nathan answered first.

"I'm his life-long friend."

"Life-long? Wow, Lan's life must of sucked even more than he tells me."

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" Dex yelled in outrage, grabbing Nathan around the collar and lifting him up.

Though his hair was still composed of a single spike jutting out of the top of his head, Dex's physique had improved dramatically over the years. He didn't really look it, but what once had been pure fat was now about 15% fat, 85% muscle. Muscle he was currently using to lift Nathan several feet off the ground.

"Hey c'mon man, it was just a joke!" Nathan said, struggling a bit for air.

"Put him down Dex." Mayl said plainly.

"Oh come on!" Dex said, still a bit pissed by Nathan's comment, causing Mayl to sigh.

"Please?" She said with a tone that was just a little too sweet.

"...fine." Dex said, putting Nathan back down, gasping.

"Damn you're strong."

"Yeah, I also won."

"What?" Nathan asked, confused before glancing at the table. In their last game they had both risked everything they'd brought to the table, and despite his earlier victory, Nathan looked on as the table operator pushed a large stack of chips towards Dex, who gathered them up with a rather greedy smile.

"Ah sweet victory!" he exclaimed, while Nathan just starred, slack jawed at the table.

A few minutes later, the group had left the casino and were sitting at a donut shop chatting. Dex was holding an oversized plate of donuts, which he had taken after he learned that the donuts were free.

"So-you're-one of those upstairs neighbours that Lan-mentions sometimes." Dex said in between donuts.

"Yeah, so you're Dex huh? I've heard about you from Lan sometimes. I'd complement your mayoral skills, but his stories about you make me laugh too much to take you seriously." Nathan replied.

Dex glared at Lan for a second before turning back to Nathan.

"So you brought Lan and Mayl on board as a sort of Wedding present, since Lan couldn't pay for a honeymoon on his own?"

"Well, sorta...not really. It was another of the guys that I live with, Ezio. He's what you might call 'Dirty Stinking Rich', so he offered and paid for them to come."

"Sounds like an interesting guy." Dex said.

"Yeah...sure...that's one word for it...well, if you see a guy walking around with at least five girls hanging off his arms, then you'll know you've seen him."

"Oh come on, that's kind of an unfair comment to Ezio, he's not that much of a womaniz-" Lan started to say, before the group noticed Ezio walking by, at least eight incredibly beautiful women hanging onto his arms and laughing.

"...so that was-" Dex started to say.

"Yup." Nathan confirmed.

Lan just pointed a finger after his womanizing friend, surprised he'd actually had that many women with him. Shaking his head, he managed to come out of his shock and turned to Dex.

"So, did you hear that Tori, Yai, Chaud and Raika are all on board too?" he asked.

"What?!" Dex yelled in surprise, almost choking on a donut. Coughing the piece onto his plate, he turned back to Lan, "Seriously?"

"Yeah, Chaud stopped at our room and told us. Apparently the presence of you, Yai, Lan and Tori all together was enough to have Chaud and Raika brought on as security." Mayl explained.

"Huh, I'll have to check around and say hi if I get a chance." Dex said, swallowing another donut.

"Yeah, right. Anyways Dex, how's your first term as Mayor been?" Lan asked.

"Tough." Dex said with a sigh, "I just hope I'm doing well enough that I'll be re-elected come next year...you guys will vote for me, right?"

"Hey, we voted for you two years ago." Lan said.

"Of course we'll continue to support you Mayor Oyama!" Mayl said in support.

Nathan just remained silent, sipping on a cup of coffee, causing Dex to glare at him.

"Huh? What?" Nathan said, putting down his coffee and noticing the glare, "Oh ah, yeah...sure, I'll vote for you too..." he said hesitantly.

"Well, thanks for all your support guys. Anyway, I got to go, see ya later." Dex said, picking up his last donut and taking it with him as he left the shop.

Zhane: Alright, here's chapter 8! Hope you enjoyed it, and I hope you didn't mind the wait, but hey, at least I wrote it!

Nathan: Yeah, but it ain't nearly as long as last time...

Zhane: Shut up, that was a special case!

Ezio: In any case, I'm quite happy with my portrayal in this chapter.

Nathan: No duh, you had your own little harem going on!

Ezio: Can you really blame them?

Nathan:...where the heck did you get a rose?

Ezio: Oh, there's a lovely garden on the ship, you should go check it out sometime.

Nathan:...suuuure...

Zhane: Anyway, thanks for reading! Now for my comments. I of course described a real ship, and used its website to describe it for absolute accuracy. Also, I can't help but notice that I don't mention the netnavis enough...really, if this continues it'll seem more like an AU story! And I don't want that...I need ideas on how to integrate the navis more...

Lance: Maybe a netbattle arena in the ship's entertainment area?

Zhane:...a very possible solution...anyway, see ya next time!


End file.
